Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 18, 1994 TAG: 9402180291
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, said the company pays a 6 percent sales tax on tickets to Disney World in Orlando. Florida gets $2.22 from every $36.95 one-day adult ticket sold at that park, he said.
"In our efforts to negotiate a reasonable package of public support, I believe Disney could have been more forthcoming," Andrews said.
The majority leader and head of the Senate Finance Committee, who failed this week to impose a $1-per-head admission tax on the proposed Disney's America theme park, said he may suggest that tickets be subject to the state's 4.5 percent sales tax.
A Disney official, backed by several senators, denied misleading lawmakers. She suggested that a tax on tickets could jeopardize negotiations with the state for the $650 million theme park in Prince William County.
Tickets to other theme parks are tax-exempt in Virginia. Sales of goods inside those facilities are taxed, however. Andrews said he is "holding out the possibility" of imposing the tax only on Disney while continuing to exempt other theme parks.
"The difference is that one theme park has asked for state dollars, while the others were built on their own," said Andrews, referring to the $162 million taxpayer subsidy Disney is seeking, principally for roads in and around the project.
Mary Anne Reynolds, a spokeswoman for Disney's America, said her company "came to Virginia because of its stable tax base and lack of admissions taxes. We cannot support an admissions tax in any form."
"Our tickets are competitively priced at the top of what the market can bear," she said. "That is why we are unwilling to tack on any additional charges."
Gov. George Allen, whose efforts to recruit Disney have become the centerpiece of his new administration, also opposed the proposal.
The admission tax would have generated $5.3 million a year toward repayment of the state's debt on roads and other Disney expenses.
The sales tax on tickets could generate even more money. Disney has not disclosed the cost of tickets to the theme park. If they were priced at the Orlando total of $36.95 and Disney's attendance projections were realized, $8.8 million would be generated annually. Of that, the state would keep $6.9 million, and Prince William would get $1.9 million.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB